Leviticus 5:8-9

5:8 He must bring them to the priest and present first the one that is for a sin offering. The priest ¹  must pinch ²  its head at the nape of its neck, but must not sever the head from the body. ³  5:9 Then he must sprinkle ⁴  some of the blood of the sin offering on the wall of the altar, and the remainder of the blood ⁵  must be squeezed out at the base of the altar – it is a sin offering.

[5:8]  ¹ tn Heb “he.” The subject (“he”) refers to the priest here, not the offerer who presented the birds to the priest (cf. v. 8a).

[5:8]  ² sn The action seems to involve both a twisting action, breaking the neck of the bird and severing its vertebrae, as well as pinching or nipping the skin, but in this case not severing the head from the main body (note the rest of this verse).

[5:8]  ³ tn Heb “he shall not divide [it]” (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:305).

[5:9]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew verb וְהִזָּה (vÿhizzah, Hiphil of נָזָה, nazah) does indeed mean “sprinkle” or “splatter” (cf. Lev 4:6, 17). Contrast “splash” in Lev 1:5, etc. (זָרָק, zaraq).

[5:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “the remainder in the blood.” The Heb. preposition “in” (בְּ, bÿ) is used here to mean “some among” a whole collection of something.